Wednesday, January 21, 2004
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004 |
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‘Tension’ leads to firing of amphitheater director By J. FRANK LYNCH Just hours before it finally assumed management of the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater, the Peachtree City Tourism Association fired amphitheater director Donna Romeo in a closed, called meeting Sunday. City Manager Bernard McMullen, a founding officer on the PCTA Board, hand-delivered a letter to Romeo Sunday night informing her of the decision not to carry over her employment to the new board. Romeo disclosed that tensions existed between her and the board, mainly about her freedom to spend budgeted funds without prior approval of the board. Meanwhile, a selection committee was to conduct interviews Tuesday to fill the amphitheater office manager job left vacant by the Jan. 2 resignation of City Councilman Judi-ann Rutherford. Rutherford has reapplied for the job, according to sources. Also scheduled for an interview was Cass Poolman, wife of Lee H. Poolman, who lost a runoff election to Rutherford in the Post 1 City Council race last November. Earlier Sunday, the PCTA Board met in called executive session “for the purpose of discussing personnel matters,” according to the notice of the meeting sent to the media via e-mail Saturday afternoon, barely 24 hours in advance as required by law. The board held a meeting Friday to finalize personnel policy for workers at both the amphitheater and Peachtree City Tennis Center and was expected to take on about a dozen employees starting Jan. 19. Technically, said McMullen, Romeo was not “fired” because she was never legally an employee of the PCTA. That would have changed at midnight Monday, however, which hastened the Sunday meeting. “When you’re dealing with personnel issues, it’s much easier to deal with people when they are not employees, as far as labor law goes,” said McMullen. Vice-Chair Murray Weed described the decision as “difficult,” adding, ”We simply feel the best decision for the operation of the amphitheater is to keep looking for the best fit.” Otherwise, PCTA officers wouldn’t discuss the reasons for their decision but sources said there was growing concern that Romeo wasn’t cooperating fully with her new bosses. Romeo did not deny there had been growing tension over how to manage the concert facility. She said the last straw came at Friday’s meeting, when the PCTA officers proposed a new process for approving expenses. “They were telling me that any expenses over $1,000 would have to go through Paul Salvatore for approval,” said Romeo Sunday night. “You approved my budget, but you are telling me I have to get approval for any part of it I spend?” “I saw the writing on the wall, but I didn’t respond to it well,” she said. “I don’t deny I got angry and probably said something I shouldn’t have said, but what could I do?” The timing was significant, since contracts for five of the 10 acts scheduled to appear this summer in the amphitheater’s 10th Anniversary season were sitting on Romeo’s desk awaiting signatures. Those contracts were signed and mailed on Tuesday, McMullen said. Also pending were contracts with vendors and corporate sponsors. Romeo suggested in an e-mail to friends and associates sent out Sunday night that her dismissal might nullify all of those contracts. McMullen denied that possibility existed. The 3-0 decision was made by McMullen, Weed, and Salvatore, the city’s finance director. City Councilman and PCTA Chairman Steve Rapson abstained from the discussion and vote, and officer David Ring of the city’s Recreation Commission was out of town and couldn’t be reached, McMullen said. Romeo had worked at the amphitheater for eight seasons, the past two as executive director. She replaced Kristi Rapson, wife of Steve Rapson. Kristi resigned in January 2002 and filed a federal equal pay discrimination lawsuit against the Development Authority of Peachtree City, which managed the venue until Nov. 30 of last year. The suit is still pending. Councilman Rapson wouldn’t comment Monday on the Romeo decision, except that his wife had no intentions of reapplying for the job “This is no conspiracy,” the councilman said Monday. “There’s never been any motivation on my part to see Kristi get this job. None of that was part of the equation, none of that at all.” Weed expects quick action on hiring the amphitheater office manager, the position vacated by Rutherford. “The Board hopes that person could be hired as early as the end of this week; thus, there should be no appreciable loss of service,” Weed said. Advertisement for a new director will be posted next Monday, Weed said.
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